John Berendt's nonfiction account of a Savannah murder and its colorful cast became a bestseller, then a Clint Eastwood film. Here is how the two versions compare.
The Book
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt
The Film
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Directed by Clint Eastwood, 1997
🔀 What Changed
The book is narrated by Berendt himself, a writer who drifts into Savannah and lingers for years. The film replaces him with a fictional character, John Kelso, a New York magazine writer played by John Cusack. That change reshapes the story's point of view, turning a real author's long residency into a shorter outsider's visit. The film also adds a romantic subplot for Kelso with a character named Mandy, who does not come from the book's account. Finally, the book follows the legal saga around antiques dealer Jim Williams across several years and multiple trials, with Savannah's social life unfolding around it. The film compresses that material into a tighter screen narrative built around the same case. Both versions keep Savannah at the center, and the film was shot on location there, but the proportion of local color to courtroom drama differs between them.
🎙️ What the Author Said
Berendt played it gracious when the film arrived in 1997. He gave the adaptation his blessing and joined the publicity push, admitting the movie strayed from his book but joking that it would run 35 hours if it included everything. Eastwood said Berendt's support meant a lot to him, and Berendt later introduced a DVD featurette on the real Savannah residents behind the story. Nearly two decades on, he was far less diplomatic. In a 2015 interview, he singled out the film's central performance, saying Kevin Spacey's portrayal of Jim Williams missed the mark entirely.
“Kevin Spacey played Jim Williams — badly. He didn't even come close.”
One version is a nonfiction portrait of Savannah told by the writer who lived it, the other a Hollywood take on the same case. Which one wins your vote?
